Twiga of Life and Hope

Twiga of Life and Hope

A tree celebrating giraffes and all wild creatures great and small.

In the conservaion spirit of Safari West, this year we celebrate the holidays by creating a tree. It is a small, humble tree…you won’t find this tree in the forest or pick its fruit. Yet, it is a tree born of hope and respect, of wonder and inspiration.

It is a beautifully simple handcrafted Giraffe carved by Daniel Patchin and painted by Cheryl Crowley.

‘Twiga’ is the Swahili name for ‘giraffe.’ The tree will honor not only our friend, the giraffe, but the beauty and joy of the natural world that surrounds us. Like nature itself, the Twiga of Life will be filled with delightful surprises – beautiful ornaments from all over the world.

The Twiga of Life is an interactive celebration as we invite our guests to ‘Give and Take’ for the holidays. Take one of the ornaments home and Give $25 to conservation, a far reaching gift that has the capacity to change – and save – lives of wild creatures around the globe.

The donations will go directly to non-profit conservation organizations such as Cheetah Conservation Fund, Painted Dog Conservation, Snow Leopard Conservancy,Save the Elephants plus more, including the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. Checks may be made payable to the World Wildlife Fund, the Cheetah Conservation Organization, The Giraffe Conservation Foundation or a conservation organization of your choice.

Why give? If we can make one small effort to improve the way we relate to our fellow creatures and our environment, there will be hope. Hope that we will never have to live in a world without giraffes.Anyone who has seen giraffes up close, gazed up and into their gentle eyes and embraced their commanding silence know how fortunate we are to share this world with them. It has been said that if these wonderful creatures did not already exist, no human mind could possibly dream them up.

We relish the chance to live in the presence of the wild and we are dedicated to do something real, something tangible, to preserve the natural world. For endangered species, humans are both their greatest enemy and their only hope. We owe it to each other and to the majestic creatures with whom we share this planet to teach, educate and inspire the next generations. We can, we should, we must dedicate ourselves to living in a world that values all living creatures, great and small. When we speak of caring, this is the hope we seek.